Rather than excluding people who wear certain religious garb, Quebecers should reach out and get to know them, religious leaders said Friday at a panel discussion on how to promote intercultural harmony.

Representatives of five faiths were unanimous in criticizing Bill 62, which requires anyone giving or receiving government services in Quebec to uncover his or her face.

While the provincial bill, passed last month, does not specifically name the niqab, it is understood to target the small minority of Muslim women who wear the face veil.

Representatives of the Jewish, Innu, Roman Catholic, Anglican and Muslim faiths took part in the discussion at the Grand Séminaire, a seminary for Catholic priests on Sherbrooke St. W.

“Open secularism, I believe, is a great thing, in the sense that it portrays society as a meeting place for people with different beliefs and different faiths,” he said.

“Closed secularism decides that certain forms of belief have no place in the public space, which is problematic,” Lépine said.

Imam Mahdi Tirkawi, representing the Muslim Association of Canada, said that any measure that excludes a group, promotes hatred or violates the dignity of the individual, is unacceptable.

“We should not put pressure on people to remove something that is valuable to them or deprive them of their human dignity,” he said.

“Secularism should not be a religion or exclude other people. It can be a dangerous, slippery slope,” he added.

The discussion, organized by the Fondation du Grand Séminaire de Montréal, took place as debate rages over Bill 62.

A Muslim organization and civil liberties group are challenging the legislation in court. On Friday, a lawyer for opponents of the bill asked Quebec Superior Court to temporarily suspend the section of the law requiring citizens to uncover their faces.

Last weekend, protesters marched through Montreal to denounce the bill and condemn racism and far-right groups.

Quebec’s Catholic bishops were among groups that criticized Bill 62 in briefs to the National Assembly.

Lépine said Friday that banning religious signs is not the right way to promote harmony between different cultural groups.

“If we say, when you wear a symbol of your religion, you must be invisible, we should not see you, are we promoting dialogue, respect and peace?” he asked.

If the goal is to promote those things, “We should be saying, ‘Hi, who are you, how’s it going’?” he said. “Not making the person hide because we don’t want to see the symbol, because we don’t want to see that reality,” Lépine said.

Jean-Louis Fontaine, an ethnohistorian and member of the Innu community, said First Nations spirituality, profoundly rooted in the natural environment, has much to offer modern society, yet indigenous people are subject to widespread prejudice and racism.

Anglican Bishop Mary Irwin Gibson said her church has much to answer for in its past treatment of indigenous people, particularly the operation of residential schools. But Gibson, who is learning the Mohawk language, said the church has expressed deep remorse for that dark chapter and is now seeking to reverse its mistakes.

David Bensoussan, past president of the Communauté Sépharade Unifiée du Québec, noted that the Catholic Church officially renounced anti-Semitism at the Second Vatican Council in 1963. However, hatred of Jews continues to be a problem around the world, he said.

Tirkawi said false stereotypes that misrepresent Muslims as fanatics or terrorists are fanning prejudice and violence. In fact, Islam teaches the importance of bringing about peace and respecting other religions, he said.

He also noted that terms commonly associated with terrorism, like jihad, have different connotations in mainstream Islam. For example, jihad really means “a continual effort to seek excellence,” he said.

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